


Zombie

by 0bviousLeigh



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Multi, Zombies and Magic AU, but no people eating Zombies, hence the gore warning up there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 02:50:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8731954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0bviousLeigh/pseuds/0bviousLeigh
Summary: Yuri is the worst Zombie in the world, which is fitting because Yugo is the worst Sorcerer in the world





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Natalia Kills' song "Zombie." This started off as something else entirely but it took on a life of it's own.

Yuri has got to be the worst Zombie in the history of spellcasting. Yugo told him that once, and Yuri responded, “Well that’s fitting, since you’re the worst Sorcerer in the history of spellcasting.”

Yugo chucked his spellbook at Yuri’s head, and that was a mistake because Yuri not only caught it, he held it hostage for two days until Yugo promised him a fresh heart for dinner.

Yugo constantly bemoans his rotten luck, conjuring Yuri to be his familiar. He’s disobedient, snarky, and seems to make it his goal in un-life to make Yugo as miserable as possible. A Zombie is supposed to be beholden to their conjurer, a kind of mindless body that serves as an outlet for a sorcerer. Yuri is far from mindless, in fact he’s almost too human. Yugo wishes he could conjure another Zombie, but it took a lot of magic and resources to get Yuri in the first place, and if he wants to do the same spell again, well, he’s got to take on a lot more work than he already has. Not that he’s sure it’s even worth it to try again, since it was probably his own bad spellcasting that lead to Yuri being so free-willed in the first place. Not that Yugo would ever admit that.

“Yuri, come help me with this spell.”

“What’s it for?”

Yugo grits his teeth. Yuri’s not supposed to ask questions. “It’s a good luck spell.”

“Boring,” Yuri whines. “You should be able to do that on your own.”

“Well I can’t,” Yugo snaps, “I’m tired, so get over here.”

Yuri rolls his eyes, but he rises from the sofa and goes to Yugo’s side. Yugo grabs Yuri’s hand and channels energy between them. He recites the incantation, and a river of energy flows from his and Yuri’s clasped hands to the pendant on the table. When the spell is complete, Yugo puts the pendant in a box and seals it.

“You’re welcome,” Yuri snaps.

Yugo waves his hand. “Yeah, thanks.” He’s already paging through his book, ready to start working on a potion.

Yuri stalks off to the sofa and lays down again, only to get up a few minutes later and come back to Yugo’s side.

“I’m bored,” Yuri says, draping himself over Yugo’s shoulders.

“Go clean up the library like I told you to do a hundred times,” Yugo says. It’s become second nature to him, working with Yuri’s weight on his body. He’s a clingy little monster.

“Do it with me, it’ll go faster of we do it together.”

Yugo shakes his head. “Too much to do.”

“You should take on less work,” Yuri says, poking Yugo’s ribs. “Maybe you’ll get better if you work less and practice more.”

“Shut up,” Yugo says.

“Make me,” Yuri fires back.

Yugo glances at his clock. “When did you last eat?”

“Days ago,” Yuri says immediately. “I’m starving, I’m so hungry I could eat you.”

That gets Yugo to smile. The one order he’s been able to make Yuri obey is to stay away from the freezer. Zombies are constantly hungry, even after they finish a meal all they want is more, more, more. Yuri would gorge himself if Yugo gave him free reign over the freezer. But Yugo would never let Yuri starve, no matter how he feels about him. And despite Yuri’s claims otherwise, Yugo knows he did eat recently, but it probably is time for him to eat again.

Yugo goes to the freezer and Yuri follows, his entire attitude changing with the promise of food. Yugo unlocks the freezer and Yuri moans, his eyes on the bags and bags of frozen animal parts.

“What do you want today?” Yugo asks.

Yuri licks his lips. “Pig,” he answers.

Yugo takes out a heart and brain, and he mutters a spell to warm them up. He holds out his hands and Yuri snatches the body parts. Yugo closes and reseals the freezer, and he goes back to his spellcasting. The food distracts Yuri for a few minutes, long enough for Yugo to get the potion done, and then Yuri is back, forcing his way into Yugo’s personal space and clinging to him.

“Are you happy now?” Yugo asks.

Yuri hums. “Sleepy.”

Yugo pats his head. “So go take a nap.”

“Come with me,” Yuri says, “I’m cold.”

“You’re supposed to be cold,” Yugo says, but he feels Yuri’s forehead. He is a little cold, not more than he should be seeing as he has no blood circulation, but Yugo know by now that Yuri needs something warm to cling to while he digests, or he’ll be even more insufferable. So Yugo packs up his things and turns out the lights. He lays on the sofa and Yuri flops on top of him, worming around until he’s comfortable.

“Move your bony elbows,” Yugo orders.

Yuri nips Yugo’s shoulder through his shirt. “Shut up, you,” he says.

Yugo glances down. Through Yuri’s mussed hair, he can just make out the curve of his eyelashes. If he was alive, Yugo might think Yuri was pretty. He has very fine, narrow features, and his hands are kind of nice, Yugo’s noticed it on more than one occasion. But Yuri is undead, and someday he’ll go back to being dead.

“Yuri, tell me how you died.”

Yuri smirks. “Freak skateboarding accident. I tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and fell into a wood chipper.”

“Wouldn’t that make it a freak wood chipper accident?” Yugo asks, rolling his eyes.

“No, the wood chipper was just doing its job. The skateboard is the thing that caused the accident.”

“You’re terrible,” Yugo sighs, but Yuri has no response, he’s already asleep. Yugo lays awake for a while, absentmindedly petting Yuri’s hair. He’s been asking Yuri how he died since Yuri became his familiar, and he’s never gotten a proper answer. So far, Yugo’s been told that he was pecked to death by sparrows, he choked on a sip of coffee and drowned in it, he got run over by an old lady on a moped, and that a three year old stabbed him to death with a plastic fairy wand.

Yuri may be a terrible familiar, but one good thing about him is that he makes life interesting.

 

Yuto drags Yuri away from the fire, cursing loudly. “Do you have a death wish?!”

“No,” Yuri says, “I’m already dead.”

Zombies can be destroyed by fire, but Yuri either doesn’t believe it’s true or he doesn’t care. Yugo flings Yuri onto the sofa.

“Can’t you behave for twenty minutes?” He pants, pushing his hair back. He’s got three spells to make before the evening, and Yuri’s been insufferable, hovering near the potion cauldron and trying to stick his hands in the fire.

“I’m _cold,”_ Yuri whines.

“Go get a blanket,” Yugo snaps. “For god’s sake, you complain all the time about how I never do anything right, but you won’t help me and you’re constantly making my life even more difficult than it already is. I shouldn’t have to watch you 24/7.”

Yuri’s lip curls. “It’s just like you to complain about how I’m not the perfect little zombie you wanted, as if this isn’t entirely your fault.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Yugo asks. “How is this my fault?”

Yuri stands up and shoves Yugo. “Idiot,” he spits, and he stalks off.

Yugo turns back to his spells. It’s a lot easier to concentrate now that he’s not focused on Yuri, but Yugo feels the absence of his familiar as he works, and by the time the last spell is finished, he’s exhausted himself. Yugo can hardly stand as he packages the charms up, and he finally drags himself to the sofa and collapses.

Yugo wakes up to Yuri poking him. He opens his eyes slowly, and Yuri shoves a cup of tea under his nose.

“Drink it, idiot,” Yuri says.

Yugo sits up and takes the tea. It’s a healing brew, and he drinks it quickly. He can already feel it taking effect, and by the time he’s finished the cup he’s feeling a lot more like himself.

“You take on too much work for a sorcerer your age,” Yuri says coldly. “You’re going to run yourself dry.”

Yugo is in no mood for Yuri’s sass. “That would make you happy, wouldn’t it?” He snaps. “I’m doing the best I can.”

Yuri snatches the tea cup from Yugo’s hands. “Are you really?” He snarls. He stalks off and Yugo hears a door slam. His bedroom door. The lock clicks. Yuri has locked Yugo out of his own room. Yugo flops back on the sofa and tries to get to sleep, but guilt is churning in his stomach.

Yuri stays in Yugo’s room for most of the next day, and not even the promise of food can get him to come out. Whatever, Yugo doesn’t need him today, it’s just potions.

Sorcery is an old art, one that Yugo never thought he would pursue, until he happened to meet a sorcerer when he was a teenager. Zarc was charming, respected, and wealthy. Yugo had happened to see an ad of his, requesting a part-time shopkeeper, and Yugo went to find out more, not even hoping for much. But Zarc not only hired him, he took Yugo in as a student.

“But I’m not a Sorcerer,” Yugo had sputtered.

“Not yet,” Zarc said with a wink, “But you have the makings of one. You could be brilliant someday, maybe even better than I am. People will sing your praises Yugo, mark my words.”

What a liar Zarc had been, Yugo thinks to himself as he pours over his book. All Yugo does is make potions and charms for whiny rich people. They don’t even pay him that well, despite being so rich. Half the time they argue with him over his prices, or come back a few days later and demand a refund because the spell didn’t work the exact way they wanted it to. Yugo may be a crappy sorcerer but it’s not his fault the customers don’t follow instructions or hear him when he says he can only get close to what they want, not give them the exact thing.

Yugo finally finishes his final potion and boxes it up. He knocks on his bedroom door.

“Yuri? I’m going to go make some deliveries.”

Yuri grunts.

“I’ll feed you when I get home,” Yugo says.

Yuri grunts again. He never asks to come along and it’s probably better that he doesn’t. Zombies aren’t uncommon, but one like Yuri is. Yugo is honestly afraid of what might happen if people knew something like Yuri existed. Whatever he is.

Yugo grabs the boxes and heads out the door. He keeps going over the fight from the previous night in his head. He and Yuri fight all the time, but this felt different.

When Zarc taught Yugo how to reanimate the dead, Yugo had been unsure about the whole thing, but Zarc assured him that it was okay, there was no question of morality involved, because the Zombies were soulless beings, meant only for the purpose of helping their masters. But Yuri…he doesn’t feel soulless. And Yugo for sure doesn’t feel like his master. He wishes he could ask Zarc for help, but he has been gone for years. He took off one day and just never came back, and Yugo hasn’t heard much about him from the other sorcerers in the country.

But Yugo can’t let himself worry about that right now, he has to pay attention. His customers live in nice neighborhoods, but Yugo’s apartment straddles neutral territory and gang territory. His own apartment is safe thanks to some spells, but once Yugo steps foot out the door, he’s as much a target as anyone else. It’s a relief when he makes it out of that part of town and into the gated communities, where his sorcerer’s ID gives him entry.

By some miracle, all of the customers Yugo is dealing with don’t argue with him over prices. They don’t tip him much, but Yugo is just glad he doesn’t have to fight tooth and nail for his money, and it puts him a good mood. Good enough to think about getting Yuri a fresh heart, so he heads to the butcher.

One minute, Yugo was walking down the street, the next minute he’s staring up at the sky with a throbbing pain in his head. He hears an engine rev and has just enough sense to roll to the side before a large tire rolls over the exact spot where his head had been seconds before.

Yugo scrambles to his feet. “Shit,” he mutters. That motorcycle is bright white, ostentatious in this area, and a sure sign that it belongs to a member of the Tops gang. But this isn’t gang territory, what are the Tops doing here? Yugo staggers to the left, away from the path of the bike, and someone grabs him.

“Hey, pretty,” a man croons in Yugo’s ear. “What’s a cute little thing like you doing walking around at this time of night?”

Yugo thrashes. In addition to the man holding him and the one on the motorcycle, he can see two more people approaching. Crap, crap, crap this is bad. He doesn’t have enough power to try and hex all four of them, and contrary to popular belief he doesn’t have the ability to teleport. He could try a light spell to blind them, but his head is killing him and he doesn’t think he’d be able to get far.

“Check him for valuables,” the man on the bike says.

The man holding Yugo gropes him somewhere that most definitely isn’t his pocket, and Yugo snarls and kicks his shin.

“Bitch,” The man says, voice icy calm, his arm pressed to Yugo’s throat. Yugo chokes and scratches at the man’s arms.

A snarl echoes around them, and the men look around.

“What the—?” Asks the man holding Yugo, and then he lets out a shriek and drops Yugo. Yugo looks around, but there’s no sign of the man anywhere, and Yugo knows what’s happening.

“Damn you,” Yugo gasps, struggling to his feet.

A blur passes, and the other two men scream and are silenced. The man on the bike looks terrified now. He revs the engine and starts to drive away, but he’s tackled from the bike and dragged into an alley. The bike, driverless, veers into a wall with a mighty crash, metal and bricks flying.

“Yuri!” Yugo screams.

“Quit shouting,” Yuri says from behind Yugo.

Yugo jumps and turns around, and the movement sends him to the ground, head in his hands.

Yuri scoops him up and starts walking. Yugo’s stomach heaves, and he grips Yuri’s shirt.

“Yuri, please tell me you didn’t…” he begins, cutting off as he gags.

“I didn’t eat them,” Yuri says, “I just slammed their heads into the wall. Don’t think it killed them but I make no promises.”

Yugo groans. “Yuri…”

“Shut up,” Yuri snaps, “If you puke on me I _will_ eat you.”

Yugo listens to Yuri and keeps his mouth shut, at least until they get home. Yuri lays Yugo out on the sofa, and Yugo points to his spell book. “Yuri, get it for me.”

Yuri crosses his arms. “No.”

“Yuri, come on…” Yugo gasps. His head is killing him.

“Get it yourself if you want it.”

Yugo closes his eyes. “Yuri, please.”

Something lands on Yugo’s stomach. He opens his eyes—it’s the book.

“Thank you,” he says, flipping through the book. The letters swim before his eyes and he closes them again.

“You have a concussion, probably,” Yuri says. “They threw a brick at your head.”

“How do you know that?” Yugo asks.

“Never mind,” Yuri says. “I’ll read you the spell, repeat after me.”

When Yugo recites the spell and the healing sets in, he finally opens his eyes without having the world spin on him. He sits up and looks at Yuri. There’s blood on his shirt.

Yuri follows Yugo’s gaze. “That’s from your head,” he says. “You should wash up.”

Yuri makes to stand and Yugo grabs him. “How did you know where I was?”

Yuri wrenches his arm out of Yugo’s hands. “I followed you, idiot. I always follow you.”

“Why?” Yugo asks.

Yuri sneers. “That’s the thanks I get?”

“Yuri it’s too dangerous out there for you!” Yugo shouts. “Too much could go wrong, do you know what could happen if someone realized what you were?!”

Yuri freezes, then he launches himself at Yugo and tackles him to the floor. Yugo hits his head on the floor and he cries out.

“Do you know what happens to me if you die?!” Yuri screeches.

Yugo blinks up at Yuri, lights flashing behind his eyes. “What?”

Yuri grabs Yugo by the collar and shakes him. “We’re linked, I’m linked to your magic! If your magic is gone, so am I! I’m dead again, but since I wasn’t released from my service to you, I’ll be in purgatory! I’ll never rest again!” He flings Yugo away. “Stupid boy,” he snarls, “You don’t even care, do you?! You just wanted a, a flesh puppet, and you got me instead! You wanted something without free will, you don’t know how to handle something with it!” Yuri slams his hands down on either side of Yugo’s head. “I didn’t have a choice!” He screams. “You yanked me out of my grave!”

Yugo stares up at Yuri, feeling like he’s about to throw up. “That’s not how it’s supposed to work,” he says.

“No shit, Sherlock,” Yuri says. He climbs off Yugo and leans against the sofa, looking tired.

Yugo sits up as well. “That’s why you said it was my fault,” he says.

“Now you get it,” Yuri says, rolling his eyes.

Yugo gulps. “I’m…I’m sorry.”

That seems to get Yuri’s attention. “What?”

“I didn’t know,” Yugo says, finding himself unable to meet Yuri’s eyes. “I had no idea that this could happen. I was taught that…that Zombies were just bodies, with minimal personality. They’re not supposed to have souls. I guess I suspected that you did, but I was in denial. That sort of thing isn’t supposed to happen and…I have no idea how I did this. I swear I never meant for it to be like this.”

“Well, duh,” Yuri says. “You’re not smart enough.” He side eyes Yugo. “You could have tried treating me like a person, instead of a servant.”

“You’re right,” Yugo says. “I’m sorry for that, too.”

Yuri looks taken aback. “You’re far more agreeable than I thought you would be.”

“Well, yeah,” Yugo says, “I…I usually do admit when I’m wrong.”

“Then in that case, your sense of fashion is horrible, and you’re totally disorganized, and your spell work is a mess.”

Yugo laughs and shakes his head. “You’re as sassy as ever.” He leans back and touches his head. It’s covered in drying blood. “Ugh.”

“Yeah,” Yuri says.

Yugo gets to his feet and makes it to the bathroom. He washes up, frowning as he sees that the healing spell didn’t work as well as he’d hoped, he’s still covered in blossoming bruises from the fight. The shower wakes Yugo up, and he finds himself thinking more about what Yuri has told him. When he redresses and goes back to the living area, Yuri is sitting on the sofa, flipping through the spell book.

Yugo clears his throat. “Um, Yuri?”

“Yeah?”

“How do you know so much about spell work?”

Yuri looks up at him. “Wow, you really don’t know anything, do you? Zombies are always former sorcerers.”

Yugo sways on his feet. “Wh-what?”

Yuri looks shocked. “Yugo, you just went white as a sheet, what happened?”

Yugo closes his eyes. The room is spinning. Zarc never told him, he never said…

“Yugo!”

Yugo falls to the floor and everything goes dark.

 

_“They don’t matter,” Zarc said. “They’re just puppets.”_

_“It still feels wrong,” Yugo said. “Raising the dead.”_

_Zarc smiled. “I know. But think of the good that comes from it. You’ll be stronger, and able to help more people. And the more people who know your name…”_

_“The more influence I have,” Yugo finished. He put the paper in his back pocket and sighed. “Okay, I’ll think about it. This is the spell I should use?”_

_“Yes,” Zarc says firmly. “The one in the book is too difficult for a young sorcerer like yourself.”_

 

Yugo opens his eyes. He’s in his bed, and Yuri is next to him, looking exhausted. Yugo gasps. “Oh crap, you never ate!” He cries, sitting up.

He runs to the kitchen and unlocks the freezer. Yuri is on him in an instant, salivating over the freezer. Yugo barely has a chance to warm up the two hearts he grabs before Yuri snatches them out of his hands. Yugo reseals the freezer and he kneels next to Yuri.

“I’m sorry,” he says softly. He feels like he’s felt sorrier in the last twelve hours than he has his whole life.

Yuri finishes the hearts and licks his fingers clean. The meal changes him, the shadows fade from under his eyes and his skin looks younger, more alive.

Yuri looks up at Yugo. “What was that reaction last night?” He asks.

Yugo looks down. “I didn’t know that you used to be a sorcerer. If I had I don’t think I would have tried to make a Zombie at all.”

“Why?” Yuri asks.

“I wouldn’t want someone to do it to me,” Yugo says. “I just…he never told me.”

“Who didn’t tell you, your teacher?” Yuri asks. “He must have been terrible.”

“Everyone liked him,” Yugo says. “I wanted to be like him, I wanted to be respected. I wanted to tell people about this city…” He gets up and goes to the window. The sidewalks are trashed, kids play on roads where there are no traffic laws, and human smuggling is the nightmare of every parent.

“I just want to change things,” Yugo says. “I want people to respect me and listen to me.”

Yuri stands behind Yugo. “That’s a long way off. You’ve got to work for years to build up that kind of reputation. I never got there.”

Yugo clears his throat. “Yuri, how come you won’t tell me how you died?”

Yuri sighs. “Does it matter?”

Yugo shrugs. “I guess not. I just…I want to know.”

Yuri turns away from Yugo. “I don’t know,” he says quietly.

“Huh?” Yugo asks.

“I don’t know how I died!” Yuri says sharply. “One minute I was alive and well, walking to meet my teacher, and the next thing…well I don’t remember the afterlife but I remember waking up here and knowing I was a Zombie.”

Yugo covers his face. “Ugh, what have I done?” He moans.

“Oh, don’t give yourself too much credit,” Yuri says, sounding both pissed off and guilty. “I don’t…I don’t blame you, not that I know now you had a crappy teacher who mislead you. He was a real jerk, you should report him. What was his name?”

“Zarc,” Yugo says.

Yuri grabs Yugo’s collar and slams him against the window. Yugo’s heart stops and he stares at Yuri.

“What did you say?!” Yuri shrieks. His face is white, Yugo’s never seen him look so scared.

“Z-Zarc,” Yugo repeats. “He was my teacher.”

Yuri releases Yugo and staggers back. “He was my teacher,” he gasps. “Zarc was _my_ teacher!”

The two of them stare at each other, each with a look of horror on their faces. They’re both frozen, and it must be almost an hour before Yugo’s phone breaks the silence and makes both of them jump.

Yugo snatches the phone. Someone wants to order a luck charm.

“I’m sorry, I’m not taking orders at this time,” Yugo says. He hangs up the phone and turns to Yuri. “We have to find him.”

“Zarc?” Yuri asks faintly.

Yugo nods. “I’ve been asking around, and last anyone heard he was headed to the Council of Sorcerers. I have no idea if he made it to them, but we can go there and look.”

“And what am I supposed to do?!” Yuri shouts, gesturing to himself. “I’m not exactly a proper Zombie!” He turns and kicks the wall. He buries his hands in his hair and pulls, hard. “Damn, damn, fuck it all!” Yugo can’t say for sure, but he thinks Yuri is crying.

Yugo touches Yuri’s shoulder gently. “I’ll help you,” Yugo says. “Maybe…maybe we can find someone who knows what you are.”

“And what if they say I’m a monster?” Yuri snaps. “What if they want me dead again?”

“Is that what you want?” Yugo asks.

Yuri hesitates. “I…I don’t know.”

“Then I won’t let anyone make you dead again until you know if that’s what you want,” Yugo says.

Yuri snorts. “That can’t have been grammatically correct,” he says. He rubs his eyes and stands up. “Okay,” he says. “I guess we’re doing this.”

Yugo nods. “First, we need to finish the orders that I haven’t gotten to yet. We’re going to need that money.” Speaking of…

Yugo rushes to his room and checks the pocket inside his jacket. He sighs in relief—the thugs from last night didn’t get the money. He rushes back to the living room and finds Yuri standing in front of the spell book, looking uncertain.

“Do you want to help me?” Yugo asks.

Yuri hesitates, then he nods. “Yeah, I want to try.”

Yugo’s never asked Yuri to try spell work before, just taken energy from him when he needed it. But Yuri’s not a bad sorcerer, in fact Yugo could probably stand to learn a few things from him, which is kind of embarrassing, so Yugo’s not going to admit it. With Yuri actually helping, they get the work done quickly, and they wait until sunset to deliver the various spells and potions. It’s the first time Yugo is walking outside with Yuri, the dark hides the inhumanly pale tinge to his skin and his sunken eyes. Once they’ve collected their payment, they go home and pack. Yugo puts the spell that Zarc gave him in the book, since he’s pretty sure it wasn’t a spell to make a Zombie.

“How will we get there?” Yuri asks. “Isn’t it still like, over a thousand kilometers away? Or did it move again?”

“No, it’s still in Aomori,” Yugo says as he puts a spell on a cooler to keep some organs frozen for Yuri. “We can’t very well fly, so I guess we’ll have to drive.”

“Drive?” Yuri repeats incredulously. “The two of us in a car together for, for…twenty hours?! Do you even know how to drive?”

“I do, thank you very much,” Yugo says crossly, “And it’s not ideal, I know, but it’s better than walking, and it’s not like we can call the high council and ask if Zarc is there!”

If Yugo knew a senior sorcerer, he could ask for a portal, but those are tricky things and…well he’s not sure Yuri can travel through one. Yugo’s never given much thought to how the undead react to the magic around them, and he’s not sure what kind of undead Yuri is, so it’s probably best to play it safe for now.

“But what about a car?” Yuri asks.

“It’s called renting,” Yugo says. “I have money saved up.”

“The money you were saving to replace me?” Yuri asks.

Yugo flinches. “I…yeah, that. But I’m not replacing you now. I probably won’t even learn the proper Zombie spell after all this.”

“Oh boo-hoo you and your pity party,” Yuri says, but he looks…kind of happy about that? Before Yugo can identify the emotion, it’s gone and Yuri turns around. “Then I guess we better get packing. Make sure you have food for me so I don’t eat you.”


	2. Part 2

Whatever happiness Yuri and Yugo managed to find in each other, it evaporates when they hit their first traffic jam.

“We should have left earlier,” Yuri says, flipping through the spell book.

Yugo grits his teeth. “Traffic happens no matter what time of day you leave,” he says. Yuri’s sore at him because Yugo made him wear sunglasses and a face mask, and he wants to take them off, but Yugo is paranoid about someone looking through the window and seeing Yuri.

“This mask is stuffy.”

“Too bad, you’re keeping it on if you want to keep your head.”

“I doubt I’ll be killed outright.”

“I’ll kill you outright if you take off that damn mask, and don’t touch the radio!”

“Then can you turn down the air? I’m freezing.”

“We are in the sun, in traffic, and I am hot, and I am the one driving! The air stays on.”

“But I’m freezing! Feel my hands—”

“GET YOUR FINGERS OUT OF MY SHIRT!”

“But feel how cold they are!”

“If I crash this car and we both die I will haunt you in the afterlife, do you hear me Yuri?!”

“How can you haunt if we’re both—”

“SHUT UP FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.”

Yuri grumbles and flips the pages with more force than he needs to, and Yugo wants to snap at him for it, but he’s just glad for the silence. When the traffic finally starts moving and Yugo feels like he can breathe again, he turns down the air.

“Do you want a blanket or something?” Yugo asks.

“Do you have one?” Yuri asks, his tone cold.

Yugo pulls over at a rest area and gives Yuri a blanket from the trunk. Once they’re on the road again, Yugo mutters that he’s sorry for snapping.

“We don’t mesh well, do we?” Yuri asks.

“I guess not,” Yugo says.

After a brief silence, Yugo says, “But maybe we just haven’t tried…getting along.”

Yuri arranges the blanket to cover his shoulders and neck, and he mumbles into it, “How does one go about that?”

“Well…what sort of things do you like?” Yugo asks.

“Eating,” Yuri says, deadpan. “And thinking about eating.”

“Okay,” Yugo says slowly. “Um, I like watching car races.”

“You do seem to enjoy speed,” Yuri says.

Yugo glances at the speedometer and slows a bit. Next to him, Yuri seems to relax.

“You don’t like going too fast?”

“Not when you’re driving,” Yuri says, but he sounds less accusing and more teasing. “How did you learn, anyway?”

“I was fourteen,” Yugo says. “I had a fake ID and I got an older guy to give me some lessons.”

From the corner of his eye, Yugo sees Yuri turn towards him. “From the way you talk about your past, it sounds like you didn’t have a very happy childhood.”

Yugo’s grip on the steering wheel tightens. “I guess I didn’t,” he says quietly. “I grew up a few blocks from where we…are currently stationed,” he says, stumbling over the words. “I was with a foster family. There wasn’t a lot…there were a lot of us and not a lot of much else. So I learned to take care of myself early on.”

“We have that in common,” Yuri says. “I grew up in a group home myself. Zarc picked me out when I was young, and he took me in.” He sighs. “I wonder if he picked us for those reasons.”

“We were impressionable and desperate to be loved?” Yugo asks.

“And to be special,” Yuri says.

They fall silent again, until another traffic jam halts their progress.

“I hate people,” Yuri grumbles, pulling the blanket over his head.

“What don’t you hate?” Yugo asks.

“Cats,” Yuri says automatically. “I used to love cats.”

“Not anymore?” Yugo asks.

“Well, I’m constantly craving blood and body parts,” Yuri says. “I would rather not have a cat.”

Yugo winces. “Yeah, I guess that wouldn’t be a good idea. Um, what else?”

“Books,” Yuri says. “I like reading. The Harry Potter series was my favorite.”

Yugo gasps and slams on the brakes. “Get out, I love that series!”

Yuri glances between Yugo and the front window. “Could you take it easy on the brakes, please? Also what’s your opinion on Slytherin house?”

“I’m a totally Gryffindor,” Yugo says, “But I think Slytherin got too much flack in the movies.”

Yuri gasps, suddenly. “I died before the last part of the last movie came out!”

“No!” Yugo cries. “Oh my god, well it’s out now, oh man if you had told me…” he shakes his head. “Screw it,” he pulls his phone out of his pocket and tosses it to Yuri. “Go in the video store and download it, watch it now.”

The movie carries Yuri through the traffic jam and all the way to the next rest area that Yugo pulls into. They watch the last ten minutes together, and then Yugo goes to the bathroom and Yuri ducks into the back seat to eat a brain. When Yugo comes back with a sandwich and coffee, Yuri is licking his fingers clean.

“If I’m not a Zombie, why do I crave these things?” Yuri asks.

Yugo shrugs and takes a bite of his sandwich. “Maybe you’re just, a new Zombie,” he says. He sees Yuri watching him and holds out his sandwich. “Bite?”

“No, thank you,” Yuri says, looking appalled. “You eat like a monster.”

“Says the one who chomps down on brains,” Yugo snorts. “What did you eat when you were human?”

Yuri shrugs. “Normal stuff? I didn’t really like sweet things. I liked green tea.”

“I hate green tea,” Yugo says. “Too bitter for me.”

“Yet you drink coffee.”

“There’s like, six sugars in here.”

“Figures.”

Yugo takes a sip of his coffee. “So what did you think of the movie?”

“The book was better,” Yuri says, “But the movie wasn’t bad.” He leans against the back of the seat. “I never asked this but…what year is it?”

Yugo tells him, and says, “You’ve been with me for a year now,” Yugo says, “And you died before that movie came out. So it’s been…”

“Three years since I died,” Yuri says. “I was dead for two years.”

Yugo is beyond taken aback. “I thought Zombies could only be recently dead.”

“Clearly not,” Yuri snaps, “As I’m here and obviously undead.”

Yugo has nothing to say to that. They get back in the front seats of the car and continue to drive. After a while, Yuri speaks again.

“I wonder if anyone missed me. Probably not. I didn’t have many friends.” He clears his throat. “When you met Zarc, was he training a girl about my age?”

“He was alone,” Yugo says.

“He never mentioned a girl?” Yuri presses, “Her name was Serena.”

Yugo shakes his head. “I’m sorry, I really don’t think he did.”

Yuri sighs. “He was training us both. We weren’t supposed to be friends, we were supposed to be rivals, he wanted us to push each other. But we had some good times, when he wasn’t around. I wonder if he did this to her, too.”

“We don’t know if this is Zarc’s fault yet,” Yugo says.

“It has to be,” Yuri growls. “He gave you that stupid spell, I was going to meet him when I died, he trained both of us, there are too many coincidences for it not to be his fault. And when I see him, I’m going to tear his fucking throat out with my teeth.”

Yugo grabs Yuri’s hand and squeezes it. “Don’t,” he says harshly. “Don’t say things like that, whether you mean it or not. You’ll be destroyed if you do that.”

Yuri doesn’t try to shake Yugo off, but he remains stiff in his seat. “Well, they still might destroy me on sight.”

“I’ll stand in front of you,” Yugo says.

“You’re an idiot,” Yuri tells him, but without his usual venom.

“What can I say?” Yugo asks, “I’ve grown attached to our bickering. The house would be pretty quiet without you.”

“Ew,” Yuri says, but he finally relaxes and even squeezes Yugo’s hand briefly, before shaking him off.

A few hours later they pull into another rest area for food and some sleep. Yuri takes off his glasses and mask and flings them on the floor. He devours the brain Yugo feeds him, waits until Yugo’s done eating, and then drapes himself over Yugo’s body.

“Excuse me,” Yugo says as Yuri grabs the handle to adjust the seat and pushes it flat, digging his elbows into Yugo’s chest as he does.

“You’re excused,” Yuri says. He wedges his hips between Yugo’s legs and shoves his ice cold hands under Yugo’s back.

“Comfortable yet?” Yugo chokes.

“Very,” Yuri says.

“Good, because I’m not.”

Yuri pokes him. “You can tell your heart to slow down, I’m not going to eat it while you sleep.”

‘Right,’ Yugo thinks as he tries to find a place to rest his hands, ‘That’s why it’s beating so fast.’

Sheer exhaustion finally overwhelms Yugo and he falls asleep. He wakes up a few hours later with Yuri’s hair tickling his nose, and his arms are wrapped around Yuri, holding him like he’s some kind of giant teddy bear. Yugo checks his watch—it’s 7 AM.

“Yuri,” Yugo says, his throat scratchy. “Yuri, wake up.”

Yuri groans and presses his face to Yugo’s neck. “’M finally warm,” he whines.

Yugo sighs and pats Yuri’s back. “Come on, we have to go…” he says quietly. Yuri doesn’t respond.

“What have I done to you?” Yugo asks. Yuri’s words keep echoing in his mind, ‘You yanked me out of my grave.’ Yugo had never thought of it like that. He never tried to understand things from Yuri’s point of view. Maybe he was scared to, because that would mean admitting that he knew something was off about Yuri, and thinking too much about that…well, it didn’t matter, he was thinking about it now.

Yugo strokes Yuri’s hair. “I’ll make this up to you, I promise.”

“Then stop talking and let me sleep.”

Yugo jumps. “Christ!”

Yuri lifts his head and blinks sleepily at Yugo. “Will you turn on the heat if we start driving now?”

Yugo nods frantically, and Yuri clambers off of him. Yugo runs back to the rest stop for the bathroom and some food, and he grabs a pack of gum from a vending machine because he forgot his toothbrush. He gives a piece to Yuri, and it ends up falling out of Yuri’s mouth when he dozes off a few minutes later.

 

They make it to the Council’s headquarters in the late afternoon. Yugo makes Yuri wear the mask and glasses as they walk inside. He holds Yuri’s hand, and Yuri squeezes tightly. Yugo tries to look as calm as he can, but he’s shaking.

He walks to a receptionist. “Excuse me,” he says, “I’m looking for my teacher, he said he was coming here.”

The receptionist doesn’t look up from her computer. “What is your teacher’s name?”

Yugo’s mouth is dry and teeth are chattering. “Um…Zarc.”

The girl glances up, her finger going still on the keyboard. “I see,” she says calmly. She glances at Yuri. “One moment please,” she says. She picks up her phone, dials a number and says, “Sir, there are two people down here looking for Zarc.” She pauses, nods and says, “Yes sir.” She stands and beckons Yuri and Yuto. “This way.”

Yugo glances at Yuri. He can see sweat beading on Yuri’s forehead.

The girl leads them to a room marked “Council Members Only,” and she opens the door and points them in. Yugo goes first, looking around carefully. The room doesn’t look scary, it’s a moderately sized office, walls lined with books and certificates, and by a window is a large desk with two people seated behind it. Yugo recognizes those people, they’re the heads of the Council—Ray and Reiji, brother and sister and some of the most powerful Sorcerers in the world. Yugo squeezes Yuri’s hand tightly. The door closes and they both jump.

“We were informed that you were looking for Zarc,” Reiji says.

Yugo nods and swallows. “Yes, he’s my…um, our teacher.”

Ray folds her hands on the desk. “When did you last see him?”

“About a year ago,” Yugo says, “A little over a year.”

“That makes sense,” Ray says. She looks between Yugo and Yuri. “Zarc is dead.”

Yuri tugs his mask down. “He’s what?!” He cries.

“He was executed last year,” Reiji says, “After he came in here raving about advancements he’d made, and we discovered that he had been illegally experimenting on humans.” Reiji stares at Yuri. “Including his own students. Specifically those he killed.”

Yugo stands in front of Yuri. “Before you say anything else,” he says, “I have something I want to tell you.” He’s shaking, but he can’t let them pass judgement on Yuri without doing this. “Zarc gave me a spell to use if I ever wanted to create a Zombie, he said the one in my book was too hard for me, and I never wanted to be a Sorcerer, I didn’t know anything besides what Zarc told me, and I trusted him. I was the one who raised Yuri from the dead, and I used the spell Zarc used. I knew Yuri wasn’t like what I had been told a Zombie should be like, but I thought it was my fault, that I did something wrong. We only recently figured out that Zarc was both of our teachers, and realized that it couldn’t be a coincidence. We came here for answers, to try and figure out what Yuri is, and I hope that you’ll help us figure that out. But whatever you do, please don’t hurt Yuri. He’s not a Zombie, he’s annoying and sassy and quite frankly, rude, but that’s because he’s…he’s human. He’s dead but he’s still a human being and he’s got rights, and I want those rights to be protected.”

Yuri grabs Yugo’s hands and squeezes them. He presses his forehead to Yugo’s shoulder and whispers, “Thanks for that. All of it.”

Ray and Reiji look surprised. “You seem to be under the impression that you’re both in some kind of trouble,” Reiji says.

“Well. I mean…are we?” Yugo asks.

Ray shakes her head. “Not at all. In fact, we would like extend our apologies to both of you for what Zarc has put you through. We knew he had students, but he didn’t take them in legally, so we had no way to track them after he died. And before he died…well he didn’t tell us where to find his students.” She looks at Yuri. “Yugo is right, you are still a human. Zarc experimented on you and created a kind of half human, half Zombie hybrid. We know this because you’re not alone.”

“Say what?!” Yugo cries. Yuri moves out from behind Yugo and stares at Ray and Reiji in shock.

Ray nods. “There are two others that we know of, they’re in this building right now, or they should be.” She glances at her watch. “Yes, school is over.” She looks up again and points at Yuri. “So you’re Yuri,” she points at Yugo. “And you are?”

“Yugo,” he answers.

“Yuri and Yugo,” Ray says. “Let me assure you, the council will not harm either of you. We don’t understand what kind of magic Zarc used, and we don’t want it to be repeated, but we would never harm a truly living being, which, Yuri, is what you are.”

“That being said,” Reiji says, “We don’t exactly want either of you gallivanting off into the sunset and flinging magic around. Zarc was a terrible teacher and I can tell right now, neither of you have been properly educated.”

Yugo stomps on Yuri’s foot before he can argue otherwise.

Reiji continues, “We would like to offer you the same thing we have given Zarc’s other students—a room in this building, and a place in a school, where a teacher will give you proper lessons in Sorcery. Once you have completed that education, you will be free to practice magic. Both of you.”

Yugo is speechless, but Yuri isn’t.

“That’s a generous offer,” he says, his sunglasses are still on and it’s probably for the best, because Yugo can tell he’s glaring daggers at Reiji. “What do you want in return?”

“The promise that you won’t go blabbing about how truly messed up Zarc was,” Ray says. “He is, quite frankly, a blight on our society that we are ashamed of. And Yuri, we would like to monitor your physiology as time goes on, so we might someday understand what it is Zarc did to you.”

“Do we have a choice?” Yuri asks.

Reiji adjusts his glasses and gives them both a hard look. “Not really. As I said, Zarc didn’t teach you right, and if you want to continue being Sorcerers, you have to learn. If you turn down our offer, we must forbid you from practicing Sorcery.”

“Can we think about it?” Yugo asks.

Ray nods. “Yes. In the meantime, our offer for a room still stands. Would you like to meet your fellow students as well?”

“Yes,” Yugo says, and Yuri nods.

Ray leads them to an elevator and presses her palm to a glowing screen. The elevator door opens and she leads them in. “This elevator is only for residents,” she says.

“I didn’t know people actually lived here,” Yugo says.

“I imagine there’s a lot you don’t know,” Ray says, but she sounds sad about it. “Zarc was…he could have been brilliant, but something went wrong with him. It’s truly a shame that you had to suffer because of it.”

Before he can stop himself Yugo asks, “Did you know him?”

“Not as well as I thought I did,” Ray says.

The elevator stops and the three of them exit into a long hallway. There’s a faint sound of raised voices.

“These children,” Ray sighs. She marches up to a door and knock. “Kids, I have some people for you to meet.” She pauses. “Are you all decent?”

“We’re not animals!” A girl yells. The door opens, and a girl with pale skin and sunken eyes stands on the other side of it.

Yuri lets out a scream and covers his mouth. The girl’s jaw drops.

“Serena?”

“Yuri?!”

They stare at each other.

“What?”

“How did—?”

Ray puts her hand on Serena’s shoulder. “Yuri and Yugo just got here, they were looking for Zarc.”

Serena steps into the hallway and removes Yuri’s sunglasses. She gasps. “Oh god, he got you too?”

Yuri nods and swallows. “I…when did he….to you…?”

“About the same time, I guess,” Serena says. “I’ve been wondering what happened to you.” She looks at Yugo. “Did he summon you?”

Yuri nods.

“Yeah, I got summoned too. So did Yuto. Come in, meet every one.” She steps into the apartment and Yuri and Yugo follow.

“Everyone!” Serena yells, “Zarc fucked up some more people!” She leads them into a huge living room, where a bunch of teenagers are crowded around a TV, sitting on the floor and on a sofa. They all turn around, and Yugo counts three more people like Yuri—with the pale skin and sunken eyes of a Zombie.

Serena says, “Remember I mentioned I had a fellow student with Zarc? That’s Yuri,” She says, pointing at Yuri.

The one other half-Zombie boy stands. “I’m Yuto, I was Zarc’s student before Serena, and you I guess.” He points to a human boy on the sofa. “That’s Yuya, he summoned me.”

The two half-Zombie girls lean over the back of the sofa and hold out their hands, but one stops. “Yugo?”

“Rin?!” Yugo cries, “What—how did you get here?”

“You know each other?” Serena cries.

“We were neighbors as kids, years ago,” Rin says. “Zarc got me on his way up here to the Council, killed me and turned me into….this.” She points to the girl next to her. “He did the same to Ruri here.”

Serena sits next to a human girl on the sofa. “And Yuzu summoned me back from the dead. Or undead, whatever I was.”

“This is unreal,” Yugo says. “It’s…it’s madness.”

“Totally,” Yuya says.

“Well,” Ray says, clapping her hands, “I’ll leave all of you to fill Yugo and Yuri in.” She tosses a key at Yugo, and he catches it. “If you two don’t want to stay here with them, that’s for the room across the hall. This apartment is enchanted to grow to fit the number of occupants, so should you chose to stay, two more rooms will pop up.”

“Ugh,” Yuya says, wrinkling his nose, “Humans are still outnumbered.” He looks at Yugo. “Ruri’s brother, Shun, also lives with us, so with you two there’s four humans and five halfs.”

“Halfs?” Yuri repeats.

“It’s what we call ourselves,” Serena says.

Yuri stares at her. “You just…accepted this?”

Serena sighs. “No, not at first. I mean, I was pissed, I still am, but Zarc’s dead.”

“Why didn’t someone stop him?” Yuri cries, “He killed five teenagers! Why did these people ignore it?!”

“They’re trying to find ways to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Yuto says.

“Well it’s too late for us, isn’t it?” Yuri snaps. “What happens in the future? They don’t know anything about us, and they killed the one person who may have had answers!” Yuri snatches the key from Yugo’s hands and stalks to the door. “I need…I need therapy,” he growls. He marches out and slams the door behind himself.

 

 

Hours later, Yugo knocks on the door.

“Who is it?” Yuri snaps.

“Me, can I come in?” Yugo asks.

“It’s unlocked.”

Yugo opens the door and steps inside. The apartment looks like a hotel room, with a small kitchenette to the right, a door to the bathroom on the left, and a large bed in the center of the room, where Yuri is flopped on his stomach, his face buried in a pillow.

Yugo sits next to Yuri, and after a moment he lies down. “What’s your favorite color?”

“Huh?”

Yugo sighs. “I’ve lived with you for a year and I hardly know you, and I know we started talking in the car but we didn’t exactly get far with that. So, what’s your favorite color?”

Yuri is quiet for a moment. “Green,” he says quietly.

Yugo smiles. “Hey, me too. Like…pine tree green.”

“I prefer grass,” Yuri says.

Yugo inches closer. “Favorite season?”

“It used to be winter,” Yuri says. He rolls over and faces Yugo. “But now I’m cold all the time and I hate it. So I guess summer.”

“I like fall.”

“Funny, I would have thought you’d pick spring.”

“No,” Yugo laughs, “I’m allergic to pollen.”

Yuri smiles. “Oh, I guess that puts a damper on it.”

“What music do you like?”

“Punk rock.”

“Figures.”

“And what do you like, pop idols?” Yuri asks.

“There’s nothing wrong with liking pop idols,” Yugo says. “I’ll listen to anything. Actually I really like rap.”

“Oh boy,” Yuri says, rolling his eyes.

Yugo pinches his side. “Ever wanted a tattoo?” He asks.

“Yeah, a cross on my cheek,” Yuri deadpans. “No, I never had such a desire, but I bet you have.”

“I want a quote. ‘Too fast to live, too young to die.’”

“Oh, my god,” Yuri says, and he starts laughing. “You would, you totally would.” He keeps laughing. He’s hysterical with it. He sits up and doubles over, clutching his sides, and suddenly he starts to sob.

Yugo hauls Yuri up and holds him. Yuri sobs into his shirt, and he chokes out, “What the fuck am I, Yugo?”

Yugo rubs Yuri’s back and rocks him, gently, until he stops crying. Yugo stills and digs a tissue out of his pocket. “It’s clean,” he says.

Yuri blows his nose and flings the tissue at the floor. He settles back against Yugo’s chest and confesses, “I wish they hadn’t killed him. I wish I could have done it myself, but first I would have asked him why. Now I’ll never get that chance. What was he trying to do?”

“Serena thinks he was trying to find a way to be immortal.”

Yuri sits up. “Am I…?”

Yugo shakes his head. “Serena’s been undead longer than you have, she’s aged. She says that you do actually have blood flow, it’s just very slow, so that’s why you don’t feel a pulse, or even feel your heart beat. But she’s aged normally, she even had to get her wisdom teeth removed because they ruptured.”

Yuri relaxes again, his head on Yugo’s shoulder. “You talked to her?”

“All of them,” Yugo says. “They said it’s not so bad here. The teachers are nice, and they’re learning a lot. Serena learned how to apply makeup so her skin looks healthier and her eyes look more normal. She and Yuto, Rin, and Ruri can go out without attracting too many stares.”

Yuri growls. “Rin and Ruri, did they know him? Or did he pick them randomly?”

“It seems to be random.”

Yuri grabs a pillow and sinks his teeth into it. He tears it open, and feathers go flying. He lets out an actual snarl and spits the fabric out. “I can’t believe he did that,” he hisses. “Killed two people for the hell of it. I looked up to him. I thought he was different. I thought he wanted to help me. I’m such an idiot.”

“He tricked a lot of people,” Yugo says, and Yuri slams his fist into the mattress.

“I should have known better!” Yuri screams.

Yugo mulls over his next words. “Yuri…what happened to you?”

Yuri runs a hand through his hair. “I…I was in a gang. I joined when I was thirteen, and Zarc got me out of it. He said I was better than that mindless violence.” He laughs. “And here I am, a half Zombie who eats brains.”

“So what?” Yugo asks.

“So what?!” Yuri repeats. “I’ll never be me again, don’t you get it?! I’ll always be…this!”

Yugo looks away. “Serena also says…we’re not bonded that deeply. It’s another reason I could hardly force you to do anything. You don’t have to stay with me, and you won’t die if I die or lose my magic.” Yugo looks up again. “So you don’t have to worry about needing to keep me alive. And you don’t need to limit yourself to what do. You can expand your horizons and do it without me. And I think you’re pretty…well, you make life interesting. I like bickering with you, actually, and you’re fun to talk to. I think you’ve always been stubborn and headstrong, sarcastic and sassy, right? That’s still there. I think now that you don’t have to sit in that box, of being a Zombie, I think once you get back to practicing Sorcery, things might get better. And even though you don’t have to stay with me, maybe we can be partners?”

Yuri wipes his eyes and he actually smiles. “Why Yugo, are you saying you like being around me? That’s practically a confession of love, compared to what you usually say.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not going to start calling you sweetie,” Yugo says, “I imagine you’ll still drive me crazy and I’ll insult you every now and then.”

“And I’m sure you’ll still be an idiot,” Yuri says.

“And yes,” Yugo says.

“Yes what?” Yuri asks.

“Yes, I like being around you.”

Yuri grabs a handful of feathers and flings them in Yugo’s face. “You’re embarrassing,” he says.

Yugo brushes the feathers off. “Yeah well, get used to it. Now let’s clean this stuff up and go across the hall, Shun is making dinner.”

Once in the other apartment, Serena puts Yugo and Yuri to work. She tells Yuri to set the table and makes Yugo cut carrots.

“We all eat together,” Serena tells them. “Even us half-Zombies. Yuri, you’re going to love what Shun does to the brains, he fries them in some kind of oil and adds seasoning.”

“I’m not a pretty eater,” Yuri says, glancing around at the humans.

Serena grins and gives Yuri a bottle of some purple liquid. “It’s a potion that helps us feel fuller, so we don’t devour things. Ray made it for us.”

Yuri takes a sip and his eyes widen. “Wow, what’s in it?”

“A lot of weird stuff,” Serena says, “Now go set the table, it won’t set itself!”

When the food is ready and the table is set, everyone sits down together.

“This is new,” Yugo says to Yuri.

“Feels human,” Yuri says.

Serena stands up. “Yugo and Yuri, welcome to our messed up little family. Even if you choose not to live with us, or choose to give up Sorcery entirely, you’re still part of this group whether you like it or not.”

“You’re so dramatic,” Yuzu scolds, tugging Serena back into her seat. She turns to Yugo and Yuri, “But it’s true, you’re in the group.”

And it’s a lively group for sure. There’s never a moment of silence, never a time where someone isn’t laughing or striking up a new conversation, and it’s nice. The apartment feels like a home, something lived in, something that welcomes people.

After dinner, Yugo volunteers himself and Yuri to wash dishes, but no one is having it and they insist the two of them go sit down. In the end it ends up being a group effort, with hardly any room left in the kitchen as all nine of them crowd in to help with the cleanup. And when the dishes are dried and the leftovers are put away, Yuri tugs Yugo aside.

“I think I do like it here,” he says, “I think I want to stay.”

Yugo sighs in relief. “Good, I want to stay too, and I’m glad you’ll be with me.”

“But I need space,” Yuri continues, “I’m not used to living with so many people.”

“Do you want the apartment next door?” Yugo asks.

Yuri looks away. “I don’t necessarily want to be alone either.”

Yugo grins. “Why Yuri, are you asking me to move in with you?”

“Don’t say it like that you brat!”

Yugo ruffles Yuri’s hair. “It’s okay, we’ve been sharing a bed for a year now, you can—” He cuts off with a wheeze as Yuri kicks him in the stomach. “Lesson learned,” Yugo vows.

“Good,” Yuri says. “Now, I’m tired and I want to rest. Are you coming, or are you going to stay here for a while?”

“I’ll go, I’m tired too,” Yugo says.

They say goodnight to the group and promise to see them again tomorrow, but they don’t announce their plans to stay just yet. First they go to the phone in their room and make a call to the reception desk. They get connected to Ray and Reiji Akaba, and let them know that they’re staying.

“You’ll start school on Monday,” Ray says, “I’ll have everything worked out by then, and tomorrow we can fly you back to your hometown to collect anything you may want to have. Welcome to the big city!”

“She didn’t seem surprised at all,” Yugo says as he hangs up the phone.

“I bet she had everything planned the moment she left us here,” Yuri says. “She seemed pretty confident that we would stay.”

The long trip and uncomfortable night of sleep in the car really starts to take a toll on both of them now that they’ve eaten and are feeling the beginnings of a food coma. They dig through their bags for their pajamas, change and wash up, and fall into bed.

Yuri curls into Yugo’s side and mutters, “I’ll still do it.”

“Still do what?” Yugo asks.

“Follow you and make sure you don’t die.”

“But I told you—”

“I’ll survive if you die,” Yuri finishes. “But I like being around you, too.”

Yugo feels his heart soar. “Thanks, Yuri.”

“I’m also not calling you sweetie.”

“I would never ask you to.”

“Good,” Yuri says. “Now go to sleep, we’ve got a lot to do tomorrow.”

Yugo puts his arm around Yuri and tugs him closer. Their heads are nearly touching. “Sleep well,” he says.

Yuri hesitates for a second, then he kisses Yugo’s cheek. “Shut up.”

Someday they’ll have to talk about…this. Whatever it is, whatever makes them feel drawn to each other, fights and all. Until then, Yugo thinks it’s okay to just be together as they are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry there's no "real kiss" if you don't count a cheek kiss as a real kiss, but it just felt cheap to do a full on kiss at this point. I think the ending is sweet and hopeful and I'm happy with it. I'm going to try to do stories for all the Yuu-boy pairings, so on to the next one!


End file.
